We love this impromptu-looking curtain tie made of a strip of leather. Ribbon would be swell as well. It reminds us of our improvised hotel room strategy for calming down curtains with busy prints...]]>http://www.improvisedlife.com/2016/12/06/simplest-possible-curtain-tie/feed/058416Wabi-Sabi Lesson: Broken Blossom with Rubber Bands (+ haiku)http://www.improvisedlife.com/2016/12/01/wabi-sabi-lesson-broken-blossom-with-rubber-bands-haiku/
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Sally Schneider

At dinner at photographer Ellen Silverman's house, I noticed a beautiful on-the-verge-of-flowering Amaryllis plant on her kitchen island...and next to it her clever, fast save of a cluster of buds that had broken off. It was as beautiful as the plant itself and embodied the elusive quality of wabi-sabi.]]>http://www.improvisedlife.com/2016/12/01/wabi-sabi-lesson-broken-blossom-with-rubber-bands-haiku/feed/058854Thanksgiving Special: The Alien Comic Counts Blessingshttp://www.improvisedlife.com/2016/11/23/alien-comic-counts-blessings/
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What should we be thankful for this Thanksgiving season? The Alien Comic, one of the most original, whole-hearted and daring people I have ever met, gives us a full run down, bringing new appreciation to things we almost certainly take for granted. ]]>http://www.improvisedlife.com/2016/11/23/alien-comic-counts-blessings/feed/054440Foraged and Transformed: Branch Coat Rackhttp://www.improvisedlife.com/2016/11/15/foraged-and-transformed-branch-coat-rack/
http://www.improvisedlife.com/2016/11/15/foraged-and-transformed-branch-coat-rack/#respondTue, 15 Nov 2016 22:00:26 +0000http://www.improvisedlife.com/?p=58647

We're smitten with this chair by Pascal Anson, a wire frame with one thousand pieces of ribbon, rope and string that were individually tied it, creating upholstery and wondrous visuals. (And metaphorically, it is a reminder of the possibilities in the everyday, which we need right now). ]]>http://www.improvisedlife.com/2016/11/09/loom-chairs-tables-reminders-of-the-adjacent-possible/feed/058317Makeshift Chair, ‘Loving the Universe…Where Peace Begins’ (Neruda)http://www.improvisedlife.com/2016/11/01/makeshift-chair-loving-the-universe-where-peace-begins/
http://www.improvisedlife.com/2016/11/01/makeshift-chair-loving-the-universe-where-peace-begins/#respondTue, 01 Nov 2016 06:37:41 +0000http://www.improvisedlife.com/?p=58451

Manar Moursi

This astonishing chair, a mashup of plastic and stone, is from Sidewalk Salon, Manar Moursi and David Puig's book about makeshift chairs they encountered while walking around Cairo, Egypt. They remind me of a fragment of Neruda's Ode to a Chair.]]>http://www.improvisedlife.com/2016/11/01/makeshift-chair-loving-the-universe-where-peace-begins/feed/058451Morph Your Ancient Laptop (even Macs) into a ChromeBookhttp://www.improvisedlife.com/2016/10/25/morph-your-ancient-laptop-even-macs-into-a-chromebook/
http://www.improvisedlife.com/2016/10/25/morph-your-ancient-laptop-even-macs-into-a-chromebook/#respondTue, 25 Oct 2016 17:24:01 +0000http://www.improvisedlife.com/?p=58119

Sally Schneider

After Improvised Life’s part-time editorial assistant Mira Keras had a health challenge that lasted months, causing extended leave from her two steady gigs, her laptop broke. It happened just as she was feeling well enough to return to virtual work at Improvised Life AND when her emergency-slammed finances were at an all-time low.

She told me about a solution Google offered in the form of a Chromebook, a bare-bones $200 laptop that employs an essential reorientation of how laptops are traditionally used. Rather than paying for a lot of power and memory to keep all your files on it, just about all data is kept (more...)]]>

After I did a sloppy job trying to disguise a torn seam in a prized sweater, I realized that seriously bold stitching would be a better solution. Turning a repair into a fierce intention works on all sorts of flawed and broken things…and people.
]]>http://www.improvisedlife.com/2016/10/11/repair-strategy-fierce-intention/feed/158121Vintage Bathtub with Found Stone Feet + Russel Wright’s Credenzahttp://www.improvisedlife.com/2016/09/28/vintage-bathtub-with-found-stone-feet/
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Oberto Gili/New York Times

In a recent New York Times T Magazine, we loved the a former Tuscan convent restored by designer Holly Lueders and her daughter, the photographer Venetia Sacret Young, largely by their own hands. There are MANY doable details and solutions we thought to steal down the line. One of our favorites: a vintage bathtub with a base of rough stones.

When a friend of artist Laura Brody had a stroke, Laura began to take notice of assistive devices that are 'almost insultingly ugly' and impersonal. She set out to understand why AND transform them into objects of personal expression. ]]>http://www.improvisedlife.com/2016/09/27/opulent-mobility-antidotes-what-we-all-fear/feed/457784Alice Brock’s Painted Beach Stones DIY + Guerilla Actionhttp://www.improvisedlife.com/2016/09/21/alice-brocks-painted-beach-stones-diy-guerilla-action/
http://www.improvisedlife.com/2016/09/21/alice-brocks-painted-beach-stones-diy-guerilla-action/#commentsWed, 21 Sep 2016 05:08:20 +0000http://www.improvisedlife.com/?p=57652

Alice Brock

Alice Brock is "Alice” of “Alice’s Restaurant,” Arlo Guthrie's iconic anti-war song of the 60’s. We discovered that she forages stones on the beaches around Provincetown, draws on them and leaves them in unexpected places: a perfect guerilla practice for the end of summer.]]>http://www.improvisedlife.com/2016/09/21/alice-brocks-painted-beach-stones-diy-guerilla-action/feed/357652Folding, Height Adjustable Ironing Board Table…Desk…Table Basehttp://www.improvisedlife.com/2016/09/20/folding-height-adjustable-ironing-board-table-desk-table-base/
http://www.improvisedlife.com/2016/09/20/folding-height-adjustable-ironing-board-table-desk-table-base/#commentsTue, 20 Sep 2016 17:18:50 +0000http://www.improvisedlife.com/?p=57519

Years ago in Paris at dinner at art dealer Maxime Defert’s home, each place setting had the glass knife rests in the form of a hard candy. They proved not only wonderful to look at but eminently practical.

Resting our sauce-slicked knife on it allowed us to reuse it at the next course, saving on dinnerware, without staining the placemat.

We recently came across an imaginative and meaningful iteration of the cutlery/chopstick rest by artist Tomomi Kamoshita. Using the ancient Japanese repair method of kintsugi, she glued together shards of pottery found on the beach into one-of-a-kind vessels held together by gold, their history in full (more...)]]>